Bloody Knuckles
by EmberForge
Summary: Olivia has a tough case. Rafael Barba is there to patch her up.


ADA Rafael Barba was pulled away from a long night of paperwork at the sound of his office door opening. Slightly puzzled as to who would be visiting so late, he was met with the sight of a very disheveled but very triumphant looking Lieutenant Olivia Benson. He raised an eyebrow, and she was quick to answer his unspoken question. "We caught him."

"Matthew Davis?"

"Yes."

"And the girl?"

"She's at the hospital. She's in pretty bad shape, but the doctors are hopeful."

Barba studied her carefully, taking note of various injuries that she hadn't had just hours earlier. "It looks like you should be there with her. What happened?"

She shrugged dismissively. "It's nothing. It was a tough collar, that's all."

He rummaged through one of his desk drawers as she spoke, pulling out a small first aid kit. He stood up and gave her an expectant glance, but Olivia stood her ground, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes as she met his stare evenly.

"Ven aquí."

"Barba, I said I'm fine."

"No, you're not. You're bleeding." His gaze was fixed on her forhead, and she reflexively followed his eyes with her hand to feel the blood she had just wiped onto her face from her still-bleeding knuckles. Barba just stood there, hands in his pockets, looking as if he could wait for her there all night. Sighing at his stubbornness, Olivia walked over and sat down in the chair in front of his desk.

Seemingly satisfied, Barba opened up the kit and laid out its contents, then grabbed a bottle of rubbing alcohol and some cotton balls. He carefully started to clean the wounds on her hands. They were silent for a while as Barba worked. Though all minor, Barba quickly became aware of how extensive her injuries were. He had made his way to cleaning a nasty scrape on her upper arm when he noticed the faint brushing on her throat. "God, Liv, did you even get checked out by the paramedics?"

"Ashley was the priority. Besides, it's not like I haven't been injured before."

"Are you going to tell me what happened?"

She shrugged the shoulder of the arm Barba wasn't working on. "Not too much to tell. We managed to track down where Davis had taken Ashley. He was there when we arrived. He tried to run, and I had to tackle him to the ground. It was a bit of a struggle, but I managed to subdue him."

"He didn't try to use the girl as a hostage?"

"To be honest, I think he thought he had already killed her." Her voice became quiet. "We thought he had too, at first. There... there was so much blood..."

"Mírame," Barba murmured, pulling her from her thoughts. She met his gaze, and he carefully grabbed her chin to tilt her head towards the light as he started wiping the blood off her face. She winced when his cotton ball brushed over a cut above her eye, but kept still and let him work.

"You know, you're pretty good at this," Olivia commented suddenly.

"It came in useful when I was younger, in the barrio." The corners of Barba's mouth twitched in amusement. "I thought about becoming a doctor once, actually."

Olivia laughed. "I'm not sure I can picture it."

"Actually, I have a cousin who is one. He's a bit of a bastard, though. Terrible bedside manner."

"Well, I'm glad you ended up with the DA's office instead. Your ruthless side fares much better with perps than it would patients."

Barba actually chuckled at that, his amusement lingering for a moment before his expression sobered again. "...You know we'll get him, right? There's no way he's slipping out of it this time."

"We had him before. If we had just connected the dots sooner, we never would have had to release him, and he never would have gotten to Ashley-"

Barba's hand stilled, causing Olivia to meet his eyes once again. "Liv, it's not your fault. You had no way of figuring out his pattern before finding that fourth victim."

"But we HAD him! You didn't see Ashley, the doctors say that if we had been even ten minutes later... We could have come up with something to hold him with! We were nearly positive it was him, and he knew it, that's why he took her as soon as we let him go."

"There was no evidence to tie him to the crime until he slipped up and left his DNA at the scene. You did everything you were supposed to do. You caught Davis, in the end. You saved Ashley. You did your job. Now trust me to do mine. There's no way in hell that this bastard isn't going down for life."

"I... you're right." She grabbed his arm, lowering it from her face. "And I do trust you. Thank you, Barba."

Barba just gave her a small but genuine smile, briefly squeezing the hand on his arm with his free one in reply. He then stood, gathering up the used medical supplies and throwing them out, before stashing the kit back in his desk. "You should go home, Liv. It's late. Get some sleep."

"You should, too."

"I just have a couple more things to finish up here. I'll need to prepare now that we're moving along with this case."

"Alright. Goodnight, Barba."

"Goodnight."

Olivia turned and began to walk towards the door.

"Oh, and Liv?"

She paused and faced him once more.

"Stop by Wednesday morning. We still need to prep for the Gomez case."

Olivia smiled. "Yeah. Of course."


End file.
